News In Brief

ByCompiledCynthia Hanson and Yvonne ZippJune 25, 1996

THE US

The Supreme Court agreed to decide whether a sexual-harassment lawsuit against Clinton should be delayed while he remains in office. The action puts the lawsuit by a former Arkansas state employee on hold until after the presidential election. Also, the court handed a major victory to the Justice Department by allowing the government to prosecute drug defendants for criminal violations while also seizing their property.

President Clinton said he would propose new legislation to allow employees up to 80 hours of "flex time" and 24 hours a year in unpaid leave for family matters. Reasons included: parent-teacher conferences and tending elderly parents. He made the proposal during a speech at a Nashville conference on balancing work and family. Republicans called it a gratuitous overture to the nation's unions. Meanwhile, the Democrats announced their "Family First" legislative agenda. It includes expanded tax deductions for educational expenses; a cut in inheritance taxes for family-owned businesses; a loss of tax benefits for companies that shift overseas; a ban on clothing imports made with child labor.

The House introduced a bill that would largely end mandates imposed on state and local governments that required the separation of juveniles from adults in prisons. The Senate offered similar legislation. The bills would abolish the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, which administers the mandates.

Some 52 percent of Americans believe Clinton did something illegal in the Whitewater scandal. And 56 percent believe he probably tried to cover up wrongs committed, a new Harris Poll shows. Both are the highest numbers since the Harris Poll began asking the questions in February 1994. Only 22 percent said they felt worse about Clinton because of Whitewater.

Morgan Stanley will purchase mutual-fund company Van Kampen to become the second-largest money manager after Merrill Lynch &amp; Co., The Wall Street Journal said. The $745 million acquisition is expected to take place in cash, plus assumption of $30 million in debt.

A new book by Bob Woodward on the Clinton White House and Bob Dole's campaign is creating a stir in Washington. "The Choice," excerpted this week in the The Washington Post, reveals Hillary Rodham Clinton consulted with a psychic adviser who led her through imaginary conversations with Eleanor Roosevelt and Mahatma Gandhi. The book also includes sections on Clinton's controversial political consultant Dick Morris and Dole's search for a running mate.

At least 4,000 residents of Nevada and 200 to 400 northern Arizona residents hoped to return home after wildfires forced them to evacuate. The Nevada blaze has destroyed at least four homes in a community about 60 miles south of Reno. A brushfire burned about 750 acres southeast of Beaumont, Calif.

A presidential advisory panel is urging the US and its allies to slow the sales of advanced conventional weapons to other countries, The Washington Post reported. The report, the result of an 18-month-long study with the assistance of the Rand Corp., is to be released next week. The report says that the $22-billion global conventional-weapons trade threatens to undermine the security of the US and its allies.

Federal officials were investigating a fire in Shreveport, La., that heavily damaged an abandoned building in a mostly black neighborhood. A sign saying the building was to become the New Birth Temple Church was posted several days ago.

Elwin Ward, who left the Jordan, Mont., "freemen" compound with his common-law wife and her two daughters before the group surrendered, was arrested by federal marshals. No reason was given for the arrest.

Nearly 3 in 10 Americans went without health insurance for at least a month from early 1992 to mid-1994, the Census Bureau found. But it also found the interruptions in coverage are getting shorter.

THE WORLD

Israel rejected Arab leaders' demands that it give up the Golan Heights and East Jerusalem. Israel will not accept any dictates from the Arab world, Foreign Minister David Levy said. The land-for-peace issue is likely to be at the forefront of talks today in Jerusalem between Prime Minister Netanyahu and US Secretary of State Warren Christopher. Palestinian President Yasser Arafat will also meet with Christopher this week, an Arafat aide said. Also, Palestinians shouldn't expect more self-rule than they have now, and Israel may want to retain a "right of pursuit" in the West Bank town of Hebron, Education and Culture Minister Zevulun Hammer said in Paris.

Four Katyusha rockets apparently fired by Hizbullah guerrillas exploded in Israeli-occupied south Lebanon, pro-Israeli security sources said. The rockets are the first since an April 27, US-brokered cease-fire.

Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov called for a national peace pact and a coalition government ahead of next week's runoff elections. (Zyuganov trails President Yeltsin in the polls.) His coalition plan calls for a "Council of National Accord" and amounts to a three-way split of the government - giving a third of posts to his Communist Party, a third to the current government, and a third to other parties. Also, Rus-sian troops will begin pulling out of Chechnya Friday, the commander of Russian troops in the republic said.

Bosnian Serbs expelled 30 Bosnian Muslims from their homes in Banja Luka in the city's worst ethnic cleansing since the Dayton peace accord was signed last year, the UN said. Also, starting Thursday, witnesses in The Hague will testify against Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic and Gen. Ratko Mladic, who stand accused of genocide in the Bosnian war. But neither Karadzic nor Mladic will appear at the UN war-crimes tribunal.

Somalia was rocked by four days of renewed fighting between rival factions in Mogadishu. Eleven people were killed and 37 injured as forces battled for a strategic junction linking the capital with the south. Somalia has been divided up between factions since 1991, when dictator Mohammed Siad Barre was ousted. UN peacekeepers and other mediation efforts have failed to stop the fighting.

Bangladesh's new Prime Minister Hasina Wajed appointed her Cabinet and pledged to implement multiparty democracy. Hasina reserved two important positions for herself: defense and textiles. Textiles account for more than 60 percent of Bangladesh's export earnings.

Nigeria freed two human rights activists in advance of today's meeting of the 56-nation Commonwealth in London on Nigeria's suspension from the group for human rights abuses.

US efforts to win approval for small-scale whaling by a native American tribe were likely to founder at the annual International Whaling Commission conference in Aberdeen, Scotland. Also, Japan was expected to come under fire for using electric shock to kill whales and hunting in the Antarctic whale sanctuary. The number of whales hunted is at a 10-year high, despite a glob-al ban on commercial whaling.

Former Indian Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao announced his Congress Party was allying with the powerful low-caste Bahujan Samaj Party. The move is to bolster the Congress Party, which was soundly defeated in recent parliamentary elections, before crucial fall elections in the populous Uttar Pradesh state.

The EU agreed on a draft convention on extradition aimed at avoiding situations where suspected terrorists wanted in one EU country can be set free in another. The convention was based on a French proposal for resolving double jeopardy concerns.

"To me, success is that my kids are the first generation of kids on both sides of my family who weren't born in projects. "

- Actor Eddie Murphy, when asked if he's concerned about the box office success of his movie "The Nutty Professor."

ETCETERAS

Planting coral fragments in tropical waters could save the world's dying reefs, scientists were told at the International Coral Reef Symposium in Panama City. A scientists at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute planted 63,000 fragments off Panama's coast. After two years, 85 percent had formed new coral reef colonies.

Russian scientist Lev Alexandrov Pokhmelnykh is Mexico's newest rainmaker. His machine reportedly gave the city of Puerto Libertad its first rainfall in more than 17 years June 10. Pokhmelnykh's machine apparently creates an electric field that accelerates condensation and causes clouds to form.

Where's the hottest market for hot dogs? The Russian Federation was the leading overseas customer for made-in-the-USA sausage and bologna last year, importing 53 million pounds - mostly franks. That's up from 25 million the year before and 110,000 in 1991.

THE DAY'S LIST

Astounding Automobiles

The Wall Street Journal asked 30 auto experts what they consider the best and worst American-made cars of the last century. Ford topped both charts, with six winners and three flops.